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Answers to WTFWTK 2.6!

Toyguru has once again provided answers to your questions.
Check out his answers to your Round 6 questions!

1. Are there, or will there be any plans to release blank, unpainted versions of characters for customizers to use in creating custom characters? An interesting idea. It is something that has come up in internal meetings here. If there is enough fan demand we could very well do this.

2. Will Mattel release any 2-packs or boxsets? (eg: Rock people, Evil Horde, army builder sets, etc) As with anything beyond single figures, we will have to see how the line performs before announcing anything larger. But you can bet, if there is enough demand for something like this we’d love to do it.

3. If Mattel releases figures that can serve as army builders (leg: Horde troopers, palace guards, etc), will mattycollector.com lift the ordering limit so fans can order larger quantities?Definitely.

4. Since Warner Bros distributes the 1987 movie, and Warner owns DC, and Mattel has a relationship with DC, is deal possible with WB where Mattel can release characters from the movie that never saw action-figure form in the 80s?Unfortunately no. Since this seems to be a constant rumor online, let us put it to rest right now. Mattel does not have the rights to make figures based on the 1987 film. We could do Blade, Saurod or Gwildor because they had figures in the 1980s. We do not have access to any other characters.

5. At the very least, can Mattel make 1987 movie-design inspired figures of characters they own? (eg: Skeletor, Sorceress, etc)While some fans have asked if we could just deco an existing figure to look like the movie version, this is just something we are not interested in doing. It is like poking a sleeping bear. Why cause trouble when we have so many great characters we CAN do?(the same goes for Shadow Weaver BTW, we know fans ask if we can do a “Horde Female Wizard” which we’d love to, but again, just not worth the legal problems it could incur). Hopefully with so many characters from the 1980s toy lines and the 2002 series the line will have enough legs to go for many years and please countless fans.

6. How well does the MOTUC line have to perform before Mattel will consider increasing their release frequency? (eg: 2 figures a month or more)That is really hard to say at this point as there is not an exact formula to determine this. If the first figures sell out in a day or so you can bet we will re-evaluate our tactics. We don’t have an exact scale but rather want to see how the first few figures do online.

7. Has mattycollector.com made any progress with the subscription / preordering / group shipping option? Many fans would like to save money on shipping by having figures shipped in intervals while avoiding a possible sell-out of a first-edition figure.Yes. We will have an option to buy 12 figures at once. These figures will be mailed as they come in each month. We won’t unfortunately have the ability to hold a “subscription” of character in our wherehouse and send them at the end of the year though. That would just take too much man power at this point. If you do order all 12 figures through the subscription you will receive each figure as it comes out to avoid sell outs.***JVS3 note: Just to clarify, that means you'll also have to pay the appropriate shipping on each figure. Preordering all 12 figures for that year won't save you any money, but will insure a first-run figure.

8. Has Mattel given thought to the option of letting foreign distributors or retailers purchase/handle quantities of the line to help defray shipping & handling costs to fans?Yes, we are looking into this. We need to see how many international customers we have for the first few figures before we officially announce plans and make arrangements for this.

9. Has Mattel considered producing accessory packs for specific characters to modify them into other figures, with the hopes of keeping production costs low while offering more variety to fans? (eg: Terror Claws Skeletor gear)A cool idea but more likely we would do Terror Claw Skeletor as his own figure as a future variant. As with the second question, we need to see how the first few figures do before expanding to other concepts.

10. Will the cards have the factions displayed below the MOTU logo as they did in the 80s (eg: Snake Men, Evil Horde) or alternate logos (eg: Princess of Power logo for She-Ra characters)?Well, yes, yes they will.

1. Are there, or will there be any plans to release blank, unpainted versions of characters for customizers to use in creating custom characters? An interesting idea. It is something that has come up in internal meetings here. If there is enough fan demand we could very well do this.

If at all possible, I would love to have soft vinyl/plastic heads for the female figures.

10. Will the cards have the factions displayed below the MOTU logo as they did in the 80s (eg: Snake Men, Evil Horde) or alternate logos (eg: Princess of Power logo for She-Ra characters)?Well, yes, yes they will.

1. Are there, or will there be any plans to release blank, unpainted versions of characters for customizers to use in creating custom characters? An interesting idea. It is something that has come up in internal meetings here. If there is enough fan demand we could very well do this.

Not sure if Toyguru said that in another Q&A on another site, but we aren't expecting any new photos until stuff goes on sale at mattycollector,
which won't be until the end of November/early December.

The idea originally was for Mattel to post new toy news/photos each month that a new toy went on sale.
Because those got pushed back, so did the news/photos.

4. Since Warner Bros distributes the 1987 movie, and Warner owns DC, and Mattel has a relationship with DC, is deal possible with WB where Mattel can release characters from the movie that never saw action-figure form in the 80s?Unfortunately no. Since this seems to be a constant rumor online, let us put it to rest right now. Mattel does not have the rights to make figures based on the 1987 film. We could do Blade, Saurod or Gwildor because they had figures in the 1980s. We do not have access to any other characters.

5. At the very least, can Mattel make 1987 movie-design inspired figures of characters they own? (eg: Skeletor, Sorceress, etc)While some fans have asked if we could just deco an existing figure to look like the movie version, this is just something we are not interested in doing. It is like poking a sleeping bear. Why cause trouble when we have so many great characters we CAN do?(the same goes for Shadow Weaver BTW, we know fans ask if we can do a “Horde Female Wizard” which we’d love to, but again, just not worth the legal problems it could incur). Hopefully with so many characters from the 1980s toy lines and the 2002 series the line will have enough legs to go for many years and please countless fans.

Well, that's it, and that's that. Sadly, the dream I've had for the last 21 years of some day owning a figure of He-Man in his awesome William Stout designed movie costume is a dream that is now dead. Mattel will NEVER make this figure, thus disappointing the movie's many fans worldwide.

JVS3, thanks for all your efforts in getting these questions answered by Mattel. it is much appreciated.

Cool answers, I'm liking this more and more. Too bad about the movie figures though, at least Blade, Saurod and Gwildor are fair game, too bad about Karg.

As I've said before, I COMPLETELY understand about Karg and the other characters that were created specifically for the movie. And, frankly, I don't give a RAT'S ARSE about Karg, personally! Myself and many others would LOVE to have the REAL MOTU characters (He-Man, Skeletor, Teela, Man-At-Arms, Beast Man, Evil-Lyn, the Sorceress) in their movie costumes/versions, though. And sadly, that will NEVER happen, which is just rubbish, IMHO. But there's nothing we can do about it. Mattel gave up rights they should NEVER have given up, and there's nothing you or I can ever do about it.

If we choose to pay for all the figures at once, do you guys think we'll still have the option to specify how many of each character we want? Or does the 12 figure thing only guarantee 1 of each character / does that mean we would have to order separately for more?

Myself and many others would LOVE to have the REAL MOTU characters in their movie costumes/versions, though. And sadly, that will NEVER happen, which is just rubbish, IMHO.

I'd love that too, but don't say never. It may not happen this time, but you never know. And it's not rubbish because Mattel just can't do it. It's not their fault. I mean, I'm sure they could acquire the rights to the movie designs, but at what price? They're already doing everything they can to keep costs down, so I doubt they're keen on paying for the rights to costumes when they already own the rest of the costumes. Jus' sayin'.

Are there, or will there be any plans to release blank, unpainted versions of characters for customizers to use in creating custom characters? An interesting idea. It is something that has come up in internal meetings here. If there is enough fan demand we could very well do this.

Glad to hear they're giving it some thought, and they should for some "blank" DCUC bodies as well!

One thing (and this goes for several of these and past answers).
How will they gauge what is "enough fan demand"?
By reading the forums here? Checking their mailbox?

One thing is to put something up for sale and see how well it sells, but it's another to put an idea out there. I'd like to know what Mattel considers an accurate measure of fan demand.

My other thoughts:

AWESOME on lifting limits for Army-Builders!!

I may not be able to afford to go CRAZY @ $20 each (so hopefully they might offer a slight discount at more than a certain amount) but I'd love to have a bunch of Horder Trooper, especially if they look (or could look with a little painting, etc) good with my Horde Stactions cause then I'd need at least a few HT's for BOTH collections.

On the Movie figures, I'm actually cool with that.
I was never a fan of the movie designs except for those that they made action figures of anyway. Blade was one of my favorite MotU figures as a kid, and I'd love to see what the 4H would do with him, Sauron and Gwildor!

I'm torn on the subscription service.
On the one hand I don't want to miss out on any figures, but on the other hand if the line doesn't sell at the lightning speed that KG did, I'd rather NOT be subscribed and wait and buy 2-3 figures at once to save on shipping.
But I do want to support the line and make things as easy for Mattel as possible, so hopefully Toy Guru can chime in with what Mattel would prefer.

Just saying, it takes time to put things in motion so if by knowing right off the bat how many "guaranteed" sales they have they can go ahead and greenlight stuff like more 2-packs, army builders, vehicles, etc based on that info, then I will sacrifice saving the shipping bucks.

Another question about the subscription service.
Buy 12 figures . . . does that mean Mattel is considering NO paint variants/head variant figures in the first year?
If so, that's a mistake IMO!
Also, would the subscription plan guarantee you at least one Convention Exclusive?

I'd love that too, but don't say never. It may not happen this time, but you never know. And it's not rubbish because Mattel just can't do it. It's not their fault. I mean, I'm sure they could acquire the rights to the movie designs, but at what price? They're already doing everything they can to keep costs down, so I doubt they're keen on paying for the rights to costumes when they already own the rest of the costumes. Jus' sayin'.

Agreed. Same thing with Shadow Weaver.

If the line takes off enough and (hopefully combined with a successful movie) there is enough of a resurgence to make MOTU a powerful and viable entity again, I wouldn't be surprised if Mattel was willing to spend some money to license out some of the key, wanted characters.

I am being honest here and that i am less and less interested in this line as each day passes. I was so excited when I was at the NYCC and it was all announced and then the lack of a true scale, the rehash of the 80s figures, the lack of finances to even attempt to get the rights to a few characters that the fans want (considering this is a total collector line you would think they would do their best to make a shadow weaver). I think i am out until the line gets unique sculpts for each figure if it lasts that long. I am not 100% on not buying but i am close. It sucks because i want to be into this line.

Quote the Raven, Nevermore.
It can't rain all the time.

"Live the journey, for every destination is but a doorway to another."

2. Will Mattel release any 2-packs or boxsets? (eg: Rock people, Evil Horde, army builder sets, etc) As with anything beyond single figures, we will have to see how the line performs before announcing anything larger. But you can bet, if there is enough demand for something like this we’d love to do it.

That is Awesome. I hope its good enought to get the snake men and the snake men army

I'm pleasantly surprised they've considered doing the unpainted figure thing. That's something I've always wanted companies to do, but no one has. It'd be sweet if Mattel was the first.

I don't care about no movie figures and no Shadow Weaver. I knew they couldn't do movie figures and wouldn't waste money acquiring the rights. As for Shadow Weaver, I liked her in the cartoon, but she's one character. There's no single character in MOTU that the absence of them in MOTUC would keep me from buying everything else (not even He-Man).

But this leads me to my next point. We've heard tons and tons of great, encouraging, exciting things about this line and what Mattel's trying to do, but as far as what's been delivered, all I know for sure is I still can't find Mattel's DCUC figures in stores and next month MattyCollector will have something relevant for the first time since the first week of August. It's just not very encouraging.

Pretty good answers this time out and I appreciate having some sort of "final word" on things like the possibility of movie characters as figures and Shadow Weaver, etc., mostly because now we know- the answer is a definitive "no" and we can move on to asking other questions and finding out other things.
I do hope 2-packs become a reality- if they're doing it for DCUC I'm sure we can get something like a Marlena/Randor 2-pack... or a set of 2 Horde Troopers or whatnot. I think it's a guarantee they would sell pretty well.

8. Has Mattel given thought to the option of letting foreign distributors or retailers purchase/handle quantities of the line to help defray shipping & handling costs to fans?Yes, we are looking into this. We need to see how many international customers we have for the first few figures before we officially announce plans and make arrangements for this.

Thank god... That is completely sensible. Too bad this won't come into play long after both He-man and Skeletor have come out tho.

I'm a bit worried if I'm going to be able to get both He-man and Skeletor at the same time, as I'm imagining He-man will be sold out by the time Skelly comes out...

Or will he? If he isn't, then I guess I can make it trough the first few figs with the atrociously high shipping and customs-fees I'll have to pay, knowing that it'll very soon get better.